Known systems provide little linkage between a telecommunications services subscriber's fixed residential and mobility services, besides known standard call forwarding that is typically implemented independently by the subscriber. Known systems disadvantageously do not permit the subscriber to control the types of calls that can reach her, and on which device, as the subscriber moves among different environments (e.g., residential, office, mobile, etc.) and activities.
Standard call forwarding is a known system typically implemented by the subscriber that specifies a forwarding destination for an incoming call to an alternative number when the incoming call encounters a busy/no-answer condition at the called number. Known standard call forwarding must be implemented by the subscriber at each individual device location, and can be difficult to turn on and off remotely. It can be difficult for a subscriber to specify conditions under which a call is to be forwarded from one device to another, besides the busy/no-answer condition. Known standard call forwarding systems do not offer the user an integrated environment for forwarding incoming calls to more than one telephone number owned by the subscriber, and do not easily implement call forwarding between the subscriber's fixed (e.g., residential) and mobility services.
One known system is a “single-number” service, also known as the “follow-me” service. In accordance with this known system, the subscriber is assigned a single number which any calling party (“caller”) can dial to reach the subscriber. The subscriber creates and activates specific “filters,” i.e., routing plans, that deliver incoming calls to the subscribers assigned single number to the device the subscriber specifies in the activated filter. Thus, for example, a subscriber can specify that calls to the single number made during business hours be routed to her business telephone, and calls to the single number made after business hours be routed to her residential telephone. This known system disadvantageously does not permit the subscriber to continue to use her existing telephone numbers (e.g., her residential numbers, office numbers, mobility numbers, etc.) The use of a single, unified telephone number eliminates useful context information about an incoming call. For example, with distinct office, residential and mobility numbers, incoming calls to the office number typically pertain to business matters; calls to the residential number generally pertain to personal matters; and calls to the mobility number are often of an urgent nature. This information, which can be useful to the subscriber in deciding how an incoming call is to be routed, is disadvantageously lost in known single-number systems.